S. Whitehall Planners Recommend Approving Soccer Field Complex

South Whitehall Township planners are recommending approval of the Lehigh County Soccer Development Commission's plans for a six-field soccer complex at Broadway and Cedarbrook Road.

Plans for the complex were changed after some officials expressed concerns about proposed parking.

Originally, the plans called for parking spots along the internal roads within the soccer field complex.

During a meeting Thursday night, officials saw plans that proposed 301 parking spaces in a number of small, off-street parking areas.

The new design will require motorists to turn off the road and into the parking lot, according to Gerald Harbison, township planner.

Harbison said officials had concerns about the safety of motorists pulling out of parking spaces and into roadways carrying traffic through the complex.

The soccer development commission is proposing to develop 36 acres of a 96-acre county-owned tract. Six full-sized soccer fields, two youth soccer fields, a jogging path and a concession stand are proposed.

Harbison said some engineering details must be completed before the plans will go before the Board of Commissioners.

Elm and Mosser streets would be extended into the property, providing egress into the proposed development from Cedar Crest Boulevard. The developer, Tuskes Homes, is requesting that a portion of the property abutting Hamilton Street be rezoned to permit commercial development.

One of the commission's main concerns focused on the future development of a sprawling land tract east of the development. "We would like to see some type of coordination with what's happening on that tract," said Chairman Alan Tope.

About a dozen residents, most of them from Country Club Gardens, attended the Planning Commission meeting. They expressed concerns about a proposed detention pond, storm water runoff and increased traffic along Elm and Mosser streets.

"We have a problem now," one resident said. "We can't have any more traffic."